A Halfling's Kismet
by Jakei-sama
Summary: The Saiyan race receives their very first hybrid Saiyan during the Cold Era. With the quick realization that this child has inordinate potential, King Vegeta I sees only one option in making sure his royal bloodline remains unquestioned; eliminate the threat.
1. Unwanted Beginnings

**A Halfling's Kismet**

* * *

Warmth. It mattered not the dimly lit area, nor did it matter the fact that she was completely unaware of where she was. Warmth was all she needed at the moment, for she could only remember the harsh cold enveloping her body in the midst of losing consciousness. Cepa's head was pounding like a gavel constantly hammering against a block set. The crackling of the nearby fire of which the warmth emanated from managed to assuage the relentless throbbing that antagonized her, though not to the point of where she even bothered looking at the fire, for the light that it produced would merely perpetuate her headache.

Thanks to the little light that she did get, Cepa was able to realize that she was in a rather secure place. A cave perhaps?

Just before her feet as she lied down, was a giant rock, one that exceeded her in size. If she had to guess, it was so that it blocked anybody or anything from seeing her. On her left, she saw her cracked chest-plate armor set against the wall alongside her boots. Cepa knew that the attire belonged to her as she always wore it under her plain blue overall body suit that covered virtually every aspect of her body, save for the upper part of her neck, entire face, as well as her hands and feet.

Just trying to think about what the hell happened and how she ended up here caused Cepa to wince and clutch at the temple of her head. "Slsh…! Damn…" She knew why she was on this foreign planet far away from home, though she had absolutely zero recollection as to how she ended up in this cave. Cepa knew she didn't drag herself here, so a third party must have helped her. Maybe one of her comrades? Despite her throbbing head, the woman was sure she could make it out without a problem. A little headache wasn't going to stop her. "Whoever helped me...thanks...but I need to get out of here."

The first part of getting up was fine, but it was the second that proved to be rather difficult. From the very moment that Cepa got off one foot and set it down on the ground, a sharp pain went up her pelvis, causing her to grunt out loud. She came back down but managed to save her face from slamming into the floor of the cave. Eyes wide, she remained huffing and puffing loudly. "I ain't a scientist, but I know that I broke something."

Anyone would just give up at this point on the fact that a bone vital to the ability to walk was broken, but Cepa didn't care. She tried yet again, forcing herself up. Like before, once she pushed her foot against the ground, she felt a sharp pain, though she disregarded it and continued to raise herself up. The pain only worsened the more she straightened her body. By the time she was on both feet in a hunched position, she stumbled over to the wall, knocking one of her boots away.

"Gragh!"

It was unbearable. The throbbing pain that she felt in her head mere moments ago was all but gone but seemingly redirected down below the waist. The pressure caused her to start sweating profusely.

Cepa growled. "All I have to do is fly right out of here and get back to my damn ship." She took in a few deep breaths and looked down near her feet. Seeing that her boots and armor were nearby, she figured that a little green device she carried with her would be within the proximity as well, but no luck. She even turned her back against the wall to see if it'd be on the other side of the room, though to no avail. "Damn it! Now I can't contact my team…"

Loud pats on the ground from just outside the cave made Cepa's monkey-like tail straighten up on alert. She stopped breathing and her eyes locked onto the shadows that grew bigger as it approached. The woman's instincts to fight were kicking in even though she knew a fight in her current position would only result in a very probable demise.

"Who's there!?"

But she showed no fear.

A slim, yet muscularly toned man that stood as tall as eight feet entered the cave, making himself known. He wore similar armor to Cepa, though said female knew for a fact that he wasn't one of her people. He had a big soft patch of orange hair that covered his gigantic head with a bang that also hid most of his right eye. Asides from that, his armor was filled with blood and he reeked of death. Cepa knew that he was here for the same reasons as her, though it just didn't make sense given the fact that she didn't recall arriving on this world alongside him.

Something was definitely out of the ordinary.

"You're not one of mine…" Cepa mumbled under her breath.

The stranger just smiled and approached her. Cepa straightened up a bit more and flared her nose as a sign for him to remain back. He noted this and stopped in his tracks.

"I mean you no harm," the man told her. His voice was deep—so deep that a mere whisper would in a crowded area would be easy for virtually everyone to hear.

"Is that right?" Cepa asked. "Why are you here then? Where's my team?" It was hard enough to confide in her own teammates when it came to planetary assignments, but outsiders? That was a big red flag from where she stod.

"I made an effort to investigate the whereabouts of your fellow companions. During my search, I was encountered by some of the recalcitrant natives of this planet. You were the first of them that I managed to find and when I did come upon you, you were barely alive."

Cepa didn't have any argument regarding that at all but that didn't mean he was absolutely off the hook. She still had questions.

"Why are you here?"

"Same reason as you, I suppose."

She then shook her head. "But why would they send you here, too? This world was our assignment, not yours."

"That was the very thing I asked myself once I realized that a team of Saiyans had been sent here. My guess is that there was an unlikely muddle with those who assign missions to us hardworking soldiers of the Cold Force."

"A mix up?"

The man nodded.

"So? How am I supposed to know that you didn't kill my team? How do I know that I'm not next?"

Silence followed after the two questions. He noticed by the look in her eyes that she was dead serious. Though he made an attempt to hold it in, his mouth spread wide and laughter sprang out hysterically. "Huhuhuhuhu! Surely, you jest! Huhuhuhuhu!"

"I don't," Cepa sneered.

His laughter died down and he just shook his head. "If my only objective were to dispose of you, I would have finished the job that the inhabitants started or simply left you to die as you were. What purpose would I have of bringing you back to health just so that I could kill you? That is just imbecelic."

"To have me know that I'm going to die."

He chuckled. "You're silly. I may look like some brute, but I'm really not. I just do what I'm told and get on with my day."

"But isn't that what brutes do?"

"That would mean that you have an entire lot of them back on Planet Vegeta," he retorted.

_Touche. _

Throughout their entire conversation, the strange helper noticed that Cepa was having trouble maintaining her posture. "You're still flimsy. You were out for three days straight and it's likely you may have broken something too. I recommend that you lie back down."

Cepa detached her back from the wall of the cave and made an effort to walk. From the moment that weight was placed onto her waist, the woman came falling down. This time she wasn't able to catch herself, but fortunately enough for her, the man who brought her to safety did.

"Gotcha."

He caught Cepa by wrapping his big arms around her slim stomach and slowly laid her back onto the ground next to the fire. Once Cepa got onto her knees, the woman rammed her elbow against the man's gut. He doubled over. Instead of groaning in agony, the man merely laughed it off, as if a little kid had jabbed at his tummy.

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Heh. I'll take that as how you Saiyans greet one another. Nice to meet you, my name is Muriku. What is yours?"

Cepa turned around to sit back on her behind, letting out a big sigh of relief. "That's of no importance to you."

"Hm." Muriku smiled and looked over to the fire. Just above the fire was a animal that had been penetrated by a roasting stick. He grabbed for the stick with his bare hands, ignoring the searing heat and removed the cooked piece of food. He extended his hand out to her. "Care for a bite?"

Cepa just stared at it. Her eyes glanced to Muriku, then back to the roasted animal. There was no telling what this man could have did to the food while she was sleeping. But still...her own stomach couldn't deny it.

Rumbling noises from the depths of her belly elicited a snicker from Muriku, which caused Cepa to get red in the face. She jacked the animal out of his hand and took a huge chunk out of it with one simple bite. In less than five seconds, all of it had been devoured effortlessly.

Muriku looked on as how it didn't even take this woman six seconds to finish her meal. He understood that she hadn't eaten for three days as far as he knew, but he at the very least expected her to savor her food. "And I thought I had an immoderate appetence for sustenance. Heh!"

"You and your big words," Cepa said with a mouthful. "Must make you feel all high and mighty, huh?"

Muriku removed his chest chestplate and tossed it over to the wall prior to sitting down on the giant rock that was laid down before the female Saiyan. "No, not necessarily, though many have erroneously assessed me as being an inept bozo." Muriku then scoffed. "As much as I would like to not speak in the manner that I do, I have trained myself so much where speaking differently is just impossible at this point." His eyes then shifted off to the side. "I have been putting in an insane amount of investment to educating my son, but the boy is just far too restless. He reminds me of myself when I was younger, but far worse."

"Is he strong?" Cepa asked. "There's no point in trying to make something of your kids in this world if they're just a bunch of weaklings."

Muriku was almost shocked at the fact that she'd say something like that but he quickly reminded himself that she was a Saiyan. Saiyans, while humanoid much like he and many other people out in the world, were a different breed on their own. How they thought, acted, and operated as an entire culture was a conundrum all on its own merit. He did want to object to what she said, though Muriku refrained from doing so and stuck to the topic at hand.

"Yes, my son is very strong. Just a kid and he's already one of the most promising combatants in the Cold Force. I was told directly by one of the superior officers of the Cold empire that my son has a chance to be with the top elite members if he is to develop properly. His strength is nothing I need to fret over. All I need to do is have him focus on his mind. Without that, strength means nothing."

"But strength is everything."

"Only for the minds of simple beings." Muriku then paused. The sneer coming from Cepa didn't scare him but he could tell that she felt some type of way about that comment. "No offense."

"None taken," Cepa lied.

"A rather trivial fact; but it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile." Muriku then grinned. "As alluring as you are with a frown on your face, I can only imagine how irresistable you'd be with a beautiful, heart-warming smile."

Cepa didn't expect such a comment at all and it just left her speechless. Through all her years as a Saiyan warrior, not once did anyone ever talk to her in such a way. She didn't know whether to feel insulted or flattered.

"Your long spunky hair that coats your left eye coupled with a smile would make any man in their right mind feel lucky to have you in their dreams. Yet here I am, with you...so close." Muriku's eyes motioned over to her chest and down to her slim, curvaceous hips.

Cepa could tell by the licentious looks Muriku gave her that he was strongly considering doing something—something that she didn't find ideal—not in the slightest.

Muriku removed himself from the rock and started to crawl over to Cepa. The woman growled at him and made an attempt to strike him in the face due to getting so close but he caught her wrist. She made an attempt to strike with her now only free hand, though that only resulted the same.

With her hands pinned down near her head and unable to use her legs as weapons, Cepa was starting to become furious. The redness that started to color Cepa's sweaty face made Muriku leer at her moist lips salaciously. He just couldn't help himself any longer. Muriku smashed his mouth onto hers with so much force that the back of her head rammed into the ground. The headache that she had mere moments after waking up had soon come back.

So it seemed that Muriku didn't care about her well-being after all. He brought her in for his own depraved reasons.

Still, she wasn't just going to let him do whatever he wished without a fight. Her hands may have been held down and her feet useless, but there was still one thing she could use.

Once Muriku stopped kissing all over her face, he moved his head back up with a big, cheesy grin. "For the past three days, your body has been in my possession. Now that you're aware of your surroundings, I see no point in you denying me when I've already had you...**many times**." Cepa spat in his face, hissed and used her tail to wrap it around his neck. Muriku chuckled as she tightened the grip and smiled even more. "Autoerotic asphyxiation. Love it. That's just going to make this more worthwhile."

"Go to hell!"

"When I die. But for now, I shall enjoy this paradise…"

* * *

**Three Years Later**

Saiyan society was a very disconnecting atmosphere. Family wasn't looked at as something extremely important and most people merely thought about their own personal interests, often disregarding others, despite potential consequences. As long as one got their jobs and did it efficiently, then everyone was happy—or so they appeared to be.

King Vegeta the first made sure everything was set straight, otherwise those responsible for incompetence would have to come to him. And that was something that none wished for. Accompanied by an elder Saiyan scientist, Vegeta looked on at his first born-heir to his throne: Vegeta II. Not even a decade ago, the king and his people had found their new world and renamed it. They continued to live their lifestyle as mercernaries, until they had been picked up and recruited by the most powerful man in the Universe. They were pretty much doing the same jobs, except that they were now being paid much more handsomely for it, in addition to having much more advanced technology to assist them in their pursuits.

Oh, that and pretty much being indentured servants under the rule of King Cold. Vegeta hated the fact that they were slaves.

"This is just unreal," the doctor behind Vegeta spoke. "Every day that passes, the prince's power just continues to grow more and more. It's like the bigger he grows, so does his power."

Vegeta folded his arms. "Isn't that natural?"

"W-Well, yes...but with your son, it's just unusual, sir. His power develops at an excessive rate, far higher than any child as they continue to grow. By the time he's ready to be taken out, the prince's power-level ought to be in the hundreds!"

This brought a smile to the King's face. He took a step closer to the nursing capsule to get a closer look of baby Vegeta. "With his latent potential, I am most certain that he will make for a fine King."

To Vegeta I, that was all that mattered. He invested a lot into making Saiyan society into what it was now. He made lots of sacrifices and compromises just to get to the point at where they were as of this moment. The train was chugging along just fine and he hoped that his son would add finely to his legacy. And for that to happen, not only did he need to be strong, but he needed to be a cruel, and heartless King as well—one that the citizens of Planet Vegeta would fear and follow blindly.

That's all he wanted: was for his people to thrive.

"We know for certain that Prince Vegeta will make for a promising King, your majesty."

"Hm. Once Cold bestows his eyes on my son and sees just how strong he'll be, he'll be bound to start respecting us more. My son will rule the Saiyan people just as Cold rules his empire. Vegeta the second will be ten times the king that Cold could ever strive to be!" He leaned in closer to the glass. "Isn't that right, my boy?" He began to chuckle menacingly.

"Your majesty! Your majesty!"

Two scientists came running, yelling out for their royal king with no sense of regard for the wanted silence that came in the nursing room. Once the two got close to him, they both bowed down before Vegeta and spoke. "Your majesty, we have a question."

"What is it?" He could tell by their great sense of urgency that a substantial amount of importance lied with whatever information they felt that they needed to share.

"Would you say that it is rather unusual for a Saiyan to be born without a tail?" one asked.

"And for said Saiyan child to not grow one for the next few years?" the other added.

Of all questions one could potentially ask, King Vegeta hadn't expected this. And any question that he had ever been asked, wouldn't be done so if such a thing wasn't taking place right now. With curiosity getting the best of him, King Vegeta just had to see for himself. "Take me to the child."

It was far too unusual for any Saiyan to be born without a tail. As long as King Vegeta had lived, he had never rested his eyes upon any of his peers that didn't have one, though it wasn't to say that this was impossible, for he has seen many have their tails cut off in battle. Some have had their regrow, and others, not. But as far as being born without one? His only conclusion was that it was some mutation. Regardless, he needed to see.

"W-We were just as-"

"Take me to him," he demanded. "Now!"

The doctors were extremely reluctant to do so in the first place, but who were they to deny their King? The two turned around and began leading their majesty over to where the toddler resided for the time being.

The room had hundreds of incubation tanks. Most were empty but a few dozen had the new generation of Saiyan children with them. Though only a small percentage, as history showed, will only come out to be long-living successful warriors, they had a perfect system to weed out the weak from the strong—or so at least in the King's eyes. As they approached the nursing capsule in which this tailless Saiyan was, King Vegeta was already thinking on whether or not they should just dispose of it. A Saiyan without his tail wasn't a true Saiyan in the eyes of most of Planet Vegeta's inhabitants.

As he thought, it was a male. Also as expected of a normal Saiyan, he had jet black hair and black eyes, yet no tail. His hair was spiky and he had a singular bang even. What bugged him was that this child was placed inside an elite nursing capsule, which was preserved for his heir if he were to continue producing more children.

This undoubtedly meant that his power-level was high, perhaps equivalent to that of the prince even. With the thought right in the back of his mind, he couldn't help _but_ ask those surrounding him.

"How strong is he?"

"He was just born 3 years ago with a power-level of 60."

_60? _It had only been for a few years now since the Saiyans have been keeping record of battle powers regarding Saiyan children. This was best to see if a child was born a lower-class Saiyan or a mere run of the mill low-level. Of all the data that they managed to collect thus far, 60 was the highest he had ever laid eyes on.

King Vegeta's eyes grew wide. "That can't be...that'd mean that his power is stronger than...my son's…"

"Yes, but it's been 60 ever since he came out. Unlike Prince Vegeta's power-level, this juvenile's battle power has remained stagnant. The Prince continues to get stronger as he grows but over the past three years, this boy's power hasn't jumped a single bit. It's...just unusual."

King Vegeta clenched his jaw as he folded his arms. Still, regardless of the fact that his son was to potentially jump at a stronger level than this Saiyan, he just couldn't help but feel insulted at the fact that another child had a higher power-level than his own son's. And a tailless Saiyan at that.

"He's one of the most promising children, your majesty! I say we raise him to become a soldier! He and the prince can be working alongside one another as they age!"

If word got out that a child was born stronger than his son's, then many people would automatically start to question the latent potential within the royal bloodline. Given that only a handful of people knew the truth, Vegeta would make sure that word didn't get out. The thought of killing this child came to mind, but then again, he could prove useful in the future, no?

No, nonsense. If he let this boy live, then what if he did continue to grow? The fact that he was born with a higher power than his son's already meant that his latent potential was most likely superior. How would his family looked if there was some common Saiyan soldier growing at a much quicker rate than his own child's? He couldn't have that. It'd be far too much a bad look on him—a hard dent in his reputation as the strongest family on Planet Vegeta.

Perhaps the others didn't see it like that but if he let the child stay on their world, being raised to be a proper combatant, then it'd only be a matter of time before many came to realize the truth.

"As a true testament to this child's potential, he shall be sent off-world."

"Really? Your majesty, are you sure? Even if we send him off to a world with a full moon, who's to say that his tail will be with him in time? The full moon is what saves most of our growing soldiers in combat, sir."

_And you think I don't know that, imbecile?_ King Vegeta already knew what he wanted to do, so any objecting questions wouldn't stop him, no matter how good the explanation. He was going through with his plan—through and through.

"Don't care," Vegeta told him. "I'll find a world suitable for him to be sent to."

"But what if his parents object, sire?"

Vegeta closed his eyes and began to run his fingers down through his long, greying goatee. No Saiyan would take kindly to their child being sent off, especially with the knowledge that they're one of the strongest of the following generation, so King Vegeta had to find a proper excuse as to have this child sent off, and not loose face in the process. "Who are the boy's parents?"

"Child's name is Kohlbi...son of Cepa." The doctor then looked at the royal king. "Father: unknown."

"Hm." A toothy grin appeared on the man's face. "I'll have a special assignment for the boy's child. By the time she gets back, he'll be long gone."

And so, the plan of King Vegeta I was set into motion.

* * *

With organizations being ran on one planet, there were many more being managed on a multitude of others elsewhere. The Galactic Patrol, an intergalactic police force, were the exact antithesis to what the Saiyans and King Cold's empire stood for. Cold had an empire that worked as a planetary trade, which came with a lot of genocide and manipulating, as well as slavery. The Galactic Patrol were barely over 20 offical officers at this time, despite being around for over tens of millions of years. Only those who were truly diligent and devoted were capable of being recruited into such an establishment. For that reason, it was typically considered a great honor to be apart of this establishment.

Because of their very little numbers in comparison, they had to incorporate various different tactics and maneuvers to fight against Cold's empire. As difficult as it was to find loopholes in Cold's system, they never quit. As the Galactic Patrol, their duty was to protect the universe as much as they possibly could and they weren't going to stop.

One of their ways of protecting the universe happened to be by sending certified officers off to worlds where young infiltration babies were sent to kill them and protect different planets of the world.

**BEEP BEEP**

In a single room, there were just a handful of patrolman all seated in chairs looking up at big screens with their fingers moving all over the place as they typed on the keyboard. Day in and day out they would supervise the universe, checking for anything unusual or something that they were mandated to look-over.

As expected, another Saiyan child was being sent off.

A dinosaur looking man turned around to look over at his peers. "I have a Saiyan child being sent off to star 107. Do we notify our superiors?"

"Star 107? That's one of the most desolate and dangerous planets in the world? Why would a Saiyan send their child there?"

"Saiyans send out infiltration babies only to planets where they'll be able to conquer. Star 107 is one of the harshest areas with predators running amok all over the place. With the lack of resources and blood-thirsty people at every angle, the kid isn't going to survive; tt's an obvious death trap. There's no way the kid survives."

"Even under a full moon?"

"Even under a full moon..."

The anthropomorphic dinosaur man rubbed his chin as he looked at the holographic map on the giant screen. The ship was on course to Planet Kabusa, one of the most primitive and inhospitable, repgugnant planets in the entire Universe. As he thought about it more, taking his peers' comments into consideration, the thought of notiyfing his superiors of an infiltration child being sent off started to die down. The chances of a full grown Saiyan adult male being capable of wiping out that planet was virtually null, unless they happened to transform, though that was no guarantee either. So if a grown warrior wouldn't be capable of successfully wiping the planet of its inhabitants, then what chance could a child ever come to have?

"Right. No need to waste one of our officer's time if natural selection is just going to take its course."

The patrolman exited the screen, also eliminating any further potential alerts revolving around star 107. Anything within proximity of that sector just wasn't worth working for.

"Done."

* * *

The explicit part regarding Muriku and Cepa had been removed from this one and placed in Archive of Our Own's version. If you wish to read all in its entirety, go to A03 and search the story.


	2. Unintentional Infiltration

**A Halfling's Kismet**

* * *

When it came to planetary assignments, desolate worlds were looked at as the most aggravating by those that spent the entirety of their lives on the front lines. The sun was hot enough to make a person rush a mission and not do their jobs conscientiously in an effort to get out of the heat as much as possible. Constant movement of sand that got in the eyes hindered a person from accurately striking their targets, which could potentially cost them as well—not to mention the unique predators that resided on such a planet.

Most had a choice in whether or not they decided to take these missions on.

But one child didn't.

Giant footprints were set on the sand of Planet Kubasa. These footprints were being left by a hairless, over-sized pink cat, which held appendages as well as whiskers, a tusk, and razor sharp teeth to boot. The sun had reached its peak mere moments ago. Around this time, when the heat was at its absolute pinnacle, the inhabitants of the world were all at their hungriest.

Its whiskers as well as the appendages twitched for a few seconds. The cat began to slow down a bit while it walked, so as soon as its whiskers stopped twitching, the cat ceased all movement. It closed its eyes and started to rely on its ears as well as its sense of smell to pick up exactly what it had been missing the entire time. Kubasa was a place in which people needed to stay on alert at all times; one second without taking some precaution meant a potential second of life and death.

The giant cat slammed its paw on the ground just a few meters out ahead. From below, a hissing noise made it to the ears of the bigger animal. A snake reared its head from below, making itself known to the assailant. The cat opened wide to render it a big bite, but the snake was the first to move it, chomping off a portion of the mammal's tongue.

A roar had been elicited from the cat as its rage began to grow. It clawed the snake in the face and pierced its eyes by using his claws. The snake continued to hiss but at this point, it was already on death's doorstep. The cat finished it off by coating the snake's head with its mouth and removing said head from the reptile's body.

The rest of the snake's body started to twitch and squirm all over the place, which resulted in a great amount of sand being kicked up into air. Now that the feline had a decent meal, he placed both his paws onto the body to refrain it from wiggling around. Just as it began to dine on its meal, it had been attacked from behind.

A dog equivalent to the size of the cat got back on its feet and growled at it. The two got into one another's face and started to circle around, putting its teeth on display as a form of dominance.

On this world everyone was fair game. Food wasn't easy to come by and in order to adapt, every single living creature was looked at as a potential meal, no matter the size or miscellaneous dangers that came along with them.

The two lunged at one another, digging their claws into the backs as they gnashed at each other's skin. Their furs were now mixed with the sand, though they cared not as they were now far more worried about coming out of this fight alive. The cat while on top, snapped at the dog's snout. In retaliation, the dog scratched the cat's eye, which began to seep with blood. Upon howling in pain, the dog rolled on top of its adversary and started to bite at it yet again.

As they were on a desert hill, both predators started to fall off like a rolling snowball.

Once the two had made it all the way down the hill, the dog immediately got up back on its feet as the cat was slow to do so. The ferocious feline's started to get blurry and sensations of drowsiness began were making for a heavy negative impact. At first, it was under the impression that it was seeing double of its opposition. And while it initially did, the sounds of similar growling from other dogs began to make way toward its ears.

Little did the cat realize that the bite from the snake it received earlier was beginning to take its toll. With its muscles weakening as well as its vision starting to betray him, the cat knew that it had to make way for an escape.

There were eight dogs surrounding it, two on each side respectively, with another two at the front as well as an equal amount from behind. They could see the cat losing its strength and started to all close in on at, seeing that the best opportunity was now. Though its chances of survival were none other than slim, it wasn't just going to roll over and capitulate. It kicked up sand at the dogs from behind and made a quick turn to the right, using whatever power it had left from within to make an insane leap above and over the two dogs on its side.

As it managed to get over the both of them, the cat began to scurry off even more, running as fast as it possibly could. The raptorial canines were quick to follow. They would be stupid to not go in pursuit given that their prey was now on the verge of collapsing. It was only a matter of time until they caught it so they were by no means going to stop.

The cat's bleeding tongue escaped from its mouth and went limp. Though unable to feel its entire face, it still had its legs—though only for the moment. Each passing second felt like an hour of pain. It knew not just precisely how much longer it would be able to endure the poisonous influences, but it was smart enough to know that he didn't have very much time.

Not even a dozen seconds passed before the cat stumbled over on one of its own feet. After falling down an even larger hill this time, the feline wasn't able to get up—much less move a muscle.

The dogs all stopped running as they came to the edge of the hill, kicking up more sand in the process. Seeing such a promising meal down and defenseless as the cat was felt far too good to be true, as if it were a gratuitous blessing. All eight canines began to involuntarily salivate at the mouth.

The leader of the pack was the first to run off so that it could get its first bites from the paralyzed cat. Subsequent to digging its teeth into its neck and killing it, the dog was ready to make its meal. However, before it could start eating, the dog looked around the cat's body, searching for any particular bites. Once the snake bite had been found, it began to suck the poison out for a while so that it could eat without worrying about being poisoned as well.

All the others had to do was wait one minute before they could all follow in and start lunching, too.

The dogs knew specifically how long they had to wait and once that time came up, they all started to go down the hill and with great prudence. As they slid down with caution, one of the dogs could hear a whistling sound that continued to grow by the second. It didn't take long for the rest of them to grasp the noise as well. Before they could even lay eyes on where the noise was stemming from, they were caught by a rather unexpected surprise.

**KABOOSH!**

A random object came crashing right down where the dog and cat was. All of them had been taken by surprise at the sudden appearance of this round, metallic object that just so happened to come out of nowhere, forming a massive crater.

While worried and anxious given that it happened to kill their pack leader, curiosity still began to overcome the lot. Slowly, the dogs made way down the hill, approaching the foreign piece of material.

The opportunity for this being a meal was something that had immediately crossed the minds of these animals. They cared not emotionally for the death of their pack leader, for that meant less mouths to feed, and more food to satisfy their own appetites in the near future.

Down in the humongous crater that slowly started to fill with sand, was an open pod, with a child inside. As soon as they saw this living being inside the pod, the dogs came scraping down the edge of the crater, in an attempt to get a bite. Never before had they seen something so enticing. A novelty of a meal was virtually impossible these days so they could only imagine the taste that came along with this child.

The boy fell down to the seat of its pod, slamming his back against the soft padding behind him. Three separate heads came directly into the pod, all growling and showing their monstrous, slobbering teeth. All were trying so much to get to the child first that they couldn't even get their necks through.

The little boy's eyes were wide. With heavy breaths, the kid's heart thumped against his chest like a mad-man with claustrophobia trapped inside a torture box. Never before had it seen anything so scary and because of this, tears began to fall down his eyes. The boy had no idea what to do.

After a while of trying, all three pulled themselves back and two went in. The both of them reached in with their claws and struck the child right across the face, from the ear to the other end respectively.

Blood immediately started to leak from the child's face and down to his chin, till they dripped on his armor. At first, the kid wanted to cry, though that was quickly replaced by rage. His blood began to boil and the Saiyan instinct that lied within overcame its more humane side. Kohlbi's eyes went pupil-less and a bright, white aura surrounded his body.

As his body trembled in pure rage with the thought of inducing pain on his mind, the dogs that constantly scratched at him didn't do as much as leave a mark from this point on. They were relentless in hoping to get their meal so one was willing to remove himself so that the other could go all the way inside the attack ball.

That only resulted in its death.

The entire pod that the boy arrived in had exploded to literal chunks. The impact of the staggering power that managed to cause such a blast had so much impact that the predators were all reduced to ashes.

And despite that, the young half-breed was still on his two feet, trembling. The kid was so livid that he didn't even need the sun to heat his body. He didn't know where he was or what the hell those things were, but for this split second, he had lost all fear, which had been replaced by anger.

Unable to contain himself, he let out a roar-one with enough power to shift the clouds of Planet Kubasa.

Just as the shouting had lowered, the boy fell down on his back inside the crater, losing consciousness.

* * *

As hot was it was in the day, it was just as cold during the night. At such a time, many went out into hiding, so that they could remain in a secure area in which the near freezing temperature wouldn't kill them.

Because of such, Kohlbi woke up to himself shivering as he clutched his own body as tight as he possibly could. Every single breath taken was visible to the naked eye in the form of misty breath. There was no snow fall—absolutely no signs of a heavy winter night—though it was freezing nonetheless.

His teeth chattered and the kid felt as if his lungs were being pinched every time he inhaled. Despite not knowing exactly what shelter was, the kid instinctively knew that he needed warmth—and fast. While it pained him to do so, the boy removed himself from the ground and proceeded to get up.

Once on his feet, the very first thing he happened to notice was the sand beneath him being tainted by a red color. Unbeknownst to the child, it was blood—his very own blood to be precise. He quickly disregarded such and began to walk ahead. It was dark out and the winds continued to kick up grains of sand into his dry eyes. Such prevented him from being able to see very keenly though he pushed on.

As loud as the winds were, Kohlbi could hear something rustling around. The more he walked ahead, the closer he appeared to be getting. The young boy looked down just a few yards ahead of his feet. The sand continued to wiggle around in a wild manner. With curiosity getting the best of him, Kohlbi poked his head close.

The closer he got, the more that single area started to move around.

**HISSS**

Out from underneath came a snake with its mouth agape. Just seeing a head pop up from underground caused Kohlbi to fall back over on his side in a near panic. The reptile's tooth was mere centimeters from making contact with the boy, who quickly turned around and began to run.

The coldness that hindered most of his movement earlier had disappeared. Now that he had to worry about a danger being directly on his tail, Kohlbi saw no other option but to flee. With the adrenaline running through his body thanks to his fight or flight response, Kohlbi's body temperature began to rise, which also started to conflict with the cold environment.

Seldom did snakes come out when it was cold but the big opportunity for food would give any living predator the incentive to come from hiding. Kohlbi ran up hills and down some just in hopes of making an escape. Subsequent to looking behind his shoulder as he ran up another hill, the kid saw that he was still being chased.

Kohlbi, due to not looking ahead, tripped over a little hole and started falling his way down. The kid rolled like a bowling pin going down an alley. He came to an immediate stop just right on the edge of the crater that he lied in mere moments earlier.

The snake, traversing through the sand, began to slow down once it saw that its meal was finally down. Its tongue slithered in excitement. All it had to do now was bite and poison its victim before it could begin its own proper feast. The cold was getting really agitating but this giant source of food was well worth it.

The snake came down and started to wrap its body right around the boy, who was out of breath at this point. The harsh cold and excessive exertion on the body took up far too much of a toll. With exhaustion having gotten to him at perhaps the worst point, there was nothing else he could truly do to defend himself.

The snake, as it neared its sharp teeth at the boy, caught the sight of giant, hairy four legged beasts gathered in the center of the crater. A panic enveloped its entire body; the snake began to unwrap itself and buried itself underground as quickly as possible. Every predator on this world knew which battle they would be able to win or lose and for a single reptile to take up a handful of those things would be nearly impossible.

They stood at 20 feet with giant, husky bodies—ears were the size of boulders and always remained perked up. Their tusks were sharper than any other's on the planet and their trunks were not only used for sensors, but confrontation as well.

To take on one would be hard enough but more than one? Impossible. Such was the reason why the reptile fled. Even such a promising feast as Kohlbi wasn't worth it.

The kid, with heavy eyes, looked down right at the enormous beasts. Every single one of them had heard the commotion and looked up. In order to retain warmth, they were grouped up together, like a family.

The look in their eyes, it was reminiscent to that of the dogs that tried to get a piece of them earlier. The mammoth-looking creatures all slowly got up onto their legs, raising their trunks and showing their teeth. Kohlbi was all alone and seemingly defenseless; an easy target.

One of them removed itself from the group and made way for the young boy, climbing right up the edge of the crater with its strong, heavy legs, in addition to the momentum it had built up.

Everything was after him.

Why?

The young half-saiyan couldn't come to comprehend such a notion. The people that sent him off were never this hostile to him. They even bathed, fed, and clothed him prior to placing him in the little ship.

Kohlbi's fight or flight instinct started to kick in yet again.

The first time, he cowered in his ship. He only fought back when he had no choice. His inexplicable Saiyan instincts took over and that was all she wrote.

The second time, he ran away from the snake.

This was the third time.

And the boy couldn't run away anymore.

The giant animal came off the edge of the crater, with its trunk beginning to come crashing down onto its target. Kohlbi's hairs perked up and his eyes went white. His hands involuntarily went up, stopping the trunk right in its tracks. With great effort, the animal had been pushed right back down into the crater. The others all fell down as well as they crashed into one another.

Kohlbi stood on its two feet, seething. He looked down as each and every single one of them got back up and started to run right up the crater in unison. Despite being a 3 foot tall three year old child, Kohlbi didn't run away this time. The Saiyan side of him sparked a big light of passion, one that revolved around bloodshed.

Hopping off his feet, the boy had its hands out for all of them, mouth wide and teeth gnawing.

All of their roars and growls echoed through the heavens of Planet Kubasa.

* * *

"And you mean to tell me that you sent him off anyway?"

Just as Kohlbi was becoming a foregone thought, the child's mother just had to rear her head in, demanding the whereabouts of her child. Cepa, though displaying facial signs of anger, was able to maintain composure and still bow before her King. She initially showed no form of interest in the boy at all, until she had heard about her child's latent strength from one of the doctors. Once she got word of just how powerful Kohlbi was at birth, Cepa just couldn't fathom why he'd be sent off in the first place. With potential like his, he'd be one of the very few special elites within the Saiyan military; the strongest Saiyan next to the royal blood-line.

Vegeta, like Cepa, felt as if his importance as not only a Saiyan, but as King, was being tested. He was aggravated, though he hid such obvious signs by smushing his cheek with his fist as his elbows remained against the throne's seat arms. "Why, yes, of course. It's not everyday that a Saiyan child is born as strong as he. Many began to question whether or not the reading was truly correct, so we needed to see for ourselves."

Blatant lie. Like any snake, King Vegeta himself had a forked tongue. Whenever he could slither a lie straight through his teeth without anything ultimately falling back on him, he'd do so without self-reproach. Cepa could see through him as if she were a psychic reading his mind. She didn't possess any clairvoyant abilities but she could just tell. She wouldn't put it past any Saiyan to lie at all—not even her own king. She knew for a fact that some of his upper-ranking soldiers that stood by him in the throne room probably questioned his decisions as well but none would dare speak their minds. But what better way than Cepa to call him out on it in front of them?

"Quick question, your majesty," Cepa started: "but what power-level was your son born with? Vegeta II."

King Vegeta took in a low, deep breath. He knew that before answering, he had to think it through. She was getting at something and while he needed not respond to her questions simply because of the fact that she was his inferior, how would he look to the others if he didn't play along in a little verbal war?

"300," King Vegeta lied.

He hadn't disclosed such to any of his men so for all they knew, King Vegeta was telling the truth. After all, he did say that his son was the strongest, just because of the fact that he is the offspring of the strongest.

"So why not take him out and see if he were the real deal?" Cepa then subtly grinned. "It's not every day that a Saiyan child is born as strong as yours."

King Vegeta gripped the end of the throne's chair arm. A vein appeared directly across his forehead, though it quickly went away as he made a great effort at keeping a level head. If he were to get out of character, then any sense of rationale would diminish before the very eyes of his audience. He needed to remain keen and speak with reason—justifiable reason in this case.

"Because such is expected of a child that happens to be of my pedigree. As my father and his father before him, my child is naturally unaturally strong." A grin then came across his face. "History shows that we aren't any simple outlier. Besides my own bloodline, I have yet to see any other that even remotely come close to my family's inherent prowess. For that simple reason, not only have I, but expert scientists have questioned this as well. As a legitimate attestation to whether or not this child's power is no faux pass, he is being sent to a frontier planet."

Cepa sneered.

"Emphasis on _Frontier Planet_." The woman rose herself up from her knees. "Star 107 is no mere frontier planet. The creatures there average a power-level of 1,000! Even as an Oozaru, Kohlbi wouldn't be able to tolerate such opposition." In the back of her mind, she recalled how subsequent to Kohlbi being taken out, the boy had been born without a tail. Who was to say that it had grown back by now? With or without, Planet Kubasa was insanely dangerous waters.

"Maybe, maybe not." At this point, he was getting really tired of her objection. "He should be done there in a few years. Though if I were you, I wouldn't really get my hopes up." If he continued this any further, Cepa would have eventually broke down every argument of his and shoved it in his face. Then he'd have no option but to kill her, but how would that make him look, really? His people already knew he was a cruel king, but he had reason as well. "Dismissed!"

And that was that. If the King dismissed her, then she had no other option but to leave. She wanted to get the last word but the woman swallowed her pride, turned around, and began her leave. Fine, he could get the last word, but Cepa would be the one to have the final act. _This isn't over._

As soon as Cepa found out that she was with child, she didn't know what to think. To not only have a child with polluted blood from a foreigner was looked down upon in Saiyan society, but it also made her feel weak. She didn't want anything to do with the kid at all, simply with the belief that he was weak. Hell, he wasn't even with a tail when the boy was prematurely taken out.

But after checking in and finding out that her boy had the potential to be an elite, she immediately took this as a blessing in disguise. As much as the thought of killing the spawn of her past sexual predator initially appeased her, Cepa figured that she ought to take pride in the fact that such a powerful child had came from her.

"When I'm strong enough, I'll be coming for you, Kohlbi. Just hang on."


	3. A Halfling's Kismet

**A Halfling's Kismet**

* * *

H2O was a nonexistent thing in the world of Planet Kubasa. Anyone expecting there to be any sort of water source in such an environment would have their hopes come crashing down in an instant—as well as their heart due to the excruciating climate. Eggs were attainable as well but most that attempted to take them and drink ended up paying with their lives. Cracking an egg and living to see another day was near impossible as its parent were always nearby and ready to kill whenever necessary.

Since there was no water and eggs were rather difficult to come by, what possible fluid could there be to quench one's thirst?

Something red; with a strong repugnant, iron taste: blood.

Though given that either blood was the best source of hydration, this was what all its inhabitants had gotten accustomed to through thousands of years of evolution.

As did Kohlbi.

The boy stood directly under one of the many lifeless trees on the planet, eyes fixated on a bird's nest. Just looking at it made his stomach quake out of sheere desire for sustenance. Being half-saiyan gave him an abnormal appetite, one larger than the natives on this Kami for saken world.

It had been three years since he arrived, which made him six years old at this point. The kid stuck with his armored clothing, which was covered in dry blood and scratches. He had a few scars over his arms and legs as well, though the most noticeable were the scars that went across his face horizontally, four scars from both ears to the center of his face. His unruly hair couldn't even cover those scars.

Being out in the open, he had no choice but to survive. It was adapt or die. The kid instinctively chose the former.

Relying solely on sight would conclude an individual's life rather quickly. To be dependent only on hearing would last one a while, though not too long. Having a keen sense of situational awareness was just as important, though if the other two were lacking as well, then death was still iminent. With only a few years under his belt, Kohlbi had a perfect balance of all three.

The heat punished him but he was able to tolerate such. The windy sand was also a nuisance but he never lost focus. Despite the fact that his eyes were looking at a bird's nest, he wasn't using his sight at all, only his hearing. Kohlbi stuck his hands out in a quick fashion. With his hands wrapped tightly around the throat of a protective bird, Kohlbi applied pressure and snapped its neck with little to no effort. The boy turned around, popped the bird's head off its body and proceeded to drink the spurting blood that simmered from its spastic corpse.

The liquid warmed his belly up rather fast. When satiated, he tossed the rest of the bird's body onto the ground. He turned around back toward the tree and proceeded to hop on it. From one single pounce, he landed on the very branch of which the bird nest was. Inside the nest were two eggs. Kohlbi picked both up and knocked them repeatedly against one another until each egg had a leak. Once they had drinkable cracks, he placed them both above his mouth and began to drink.

After drinking, he removed the nest from the branch and looked back over to the bird's corpse. As expected, there was a lone dog making way towards it. The animal merely had its focus on the bird's body, eager at the fact that it had everything else intact, meaning more food for him. Though Kohlbi was just right there, the kid hadn't been seen.

All going according to plan.

While insanely hungry, Kohlbi had the patience to wait until the lone dog was finished eating to attack. By the time that the bloody mouthed canine's eyes stumbled upon Kohlbi, it was attacked head on and tackled to the ground.

Subsequent to rolling around a bit, the dog came on top, but was clawed in the face by Kohlbi's long nails and used the short opening time to get on top, where he now had all the power.

The half-blood, as per usual, didn't intend on wasting any time. He raised his hands and prepared himself to pierce the animal's throat with his sharp, hardened nails. Just mere centimeters away from giving the final blow, Kohlbi came to an immediate stop.

Rustling from underground had caught his attention. Having dealt with this on several occasions, the boy smacked the dog across the face and hopped away from it. Just a dozen yards away from his target, he watched as a snake came from underground and wrapped itself around the dog.

Before the reptile could get its bite in, Kohlbi was there to grab it by the head. The snake, with its mouth wide, had its teeth pulled out and face slammed into the ground. With dizziness overcoming the cold-blooded creature, it was used to be wrapped around the dog's neck.

Kohlbi mercilessly choked the dog out as he tugged on the snake's body. Both animals were in a world full of pain. Just mere seconds after the four-legged creature died, so did the reptile.

Just like that, Kohlbi had two more meals.

* * *

Night was on the horizon so Kohlbi had very little time left to savor his food. With an unordinary appetite, the kid had a tendency to eat everything he had in one sitting instead of eating bits and saving some for later. Because of this, the boy put himself at risk every single day as he went out on the hunt for more.

But with the assurance that he was more than capable of handling himself, Kohlbi was daring.

So daring that he was even willing to head out at night despite the bone-chilling bitter cold. Such a time was best to go out and kill the big beasts during the nightfall. Not only did they provide heat for an entire night's rest, but a great amount of food as well. Having two of them would last Kohlbi half a week.

But as for now, the kid was content. He had a hole in the ground, expanded to a big enough size which was capable of pretty much sleeping in. This was perfect for the boy; Kohlbi could not only get his rest but whenever a potential victim was in the vicinity, he was capable of furtively approaching his prey in an effort to get one extra rewarding meal.

Just as he was ready to call it a night, the boy spotted a bright light flashing through the sky from afar—so bright that his jet black eyes were glowing based off mere reflection.

Such a marveling sight it happened to be. And as expected, his interest began to rise. While cold, Kohlbi knew that he just had to see. He hopped out from the crater and started to run as fast as his legs could allow. With all the food he had eaten today, he was far from short of energy. Why rest if not tired? Especially if something else was already out there-something captivating.

Shooting stars were far from common on Planet Kubasa. The last time that anything even remotely synonymous to that of a shooting star that had landed was an infiltration child's ship; Kohlbi's.

The second time was no different.

On the planet appeared a Saiyan female with her tail wrapped around her right naked thigh; the other being wrapped around in bandages. She wore a one strap armored chest piece with a pink one whole body suit underneath, combat boots, and white gloves.

Typical Saiyan armor.

"Now where are you, son?"

Most saw this goal of recruiting Kohlbi as a waste of time, as did her own comrades, but Cepa thought otherwise. For her, it was the same old routine: go from planet to planet, wipe them out, have the planet sold, come back home, re-up, rinse, and repeat. The only enjoyment she got out of it was fighting but even then, most of the beings she fought were weaklings—and that grew bland as she got other. Besides, this was her son—a potential elite. She had to see for herself.

She reached into the pouch she had around her waist and pulled out a scope. After placing it by her eye, she used the device to scan out for potential life forms.

It didn't take a while at all for the device to pick up a handful of different signals.

She could hear the stomping from afar. The more they grew near, the more Cepa anticipated to attack. Just to her side were three different giant beats all running right for her. Each had a power-level over 2,000, so taking them on all at once was pure suicide.

Using her speed, Cepa began to slide 20 yards to the left and forty yards back to the right. She did this repeatedly, with her eyes fixated on the humongous animals, all of who began to bump into one another as they ran toward the target.

Once they got close, Cepa took off into the sky and turned around with her hands aimed at them all. As she readied to do damage to them all with a myriad of energy attacks, she saw that all three came stumbling down before just dropping dead.

Cepa froze for a slight moment prior to slowly lowering her hands back down to her sides. On top of the dead beast right in the middle, she saw a little boy looking right up at her.

Cepa didn't have to think about it for one moment. The clothes had told her everything she needed to know.

Kohlbi was alive.

Kohlbi had never seen a creature like this in his life, for as long as he could possibly remember. The last persons who were even remotely similar to this foreigner in appearance were those who sent her off. They never did him any harm or any of the sort like the aliens on this world did, though it didn't mean that he wasn't apprehensive.

Cepa grabbed the scope from her pouch and used it to scan over her son's power. The four digit reading made her mouth drop. He was stronger than her—hell, stronger than any other adult Saiyan on Planet Vegeta, asides from the very king himself.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Cepa quickly descended back on land and began jogging over to him.

Kohlbi had three different meals that could last him for the span of days and here she was, approaching him just after he got his kill. Once she was within a ten meter distance, the boy hopped off and hissed at her while displaying his sharp, bloody carnivorous teeth.

And here was the first time she got to see her son up at a close distance.

His hair was long, dirty, unruly, but that was the strong Saiyan DNA from within. The kid had his father's hair, though exaggerated in length and shown naturally unkempt like a lot of Saiyans.

But what got her attention the most were his scars.

It ran across his face. Many warriors had scars, perhaps one on their face and another on their arm and leg, but he had a quite a few on his face and many on his arms and legs. The kid was no doubt a survivor, having survived countless brutal encounters.

Cepa stopped and stood still. The woman had no fear in her body, but she wasn't stupid either. Her son was just a bit stronger. Though she had the edge thanks to experience, those who were wild and unpredictable happened to also be one of the most dangerous ones. And for him to have Saiyan blood running in his veins meant that he was undoubtedly a quick learner.

"Best for me to be on your good side, huh?"

The words she spoke were inconceivable. The boy cocked his head in confusion.

Cepa scoffed. Of course he wouldn't comprehend her. Any child raised in a world where they're surrounded by animalistic predators wouldn't even think of verbal communication as a thing.

Cepa, with her hands by her head, began to slowly walk toward the boy. Kohlbi wasn't as hostile but he remained on guard. He watched every single body movement, from her eyes to her legs, hands, arms, feet, and even tail. If he so as much felt that she was going to try to take his meal, he'd pounce right on her with no hesitation.

Thing is…

He didn't know how to handle her.

He's handled the inhabitants of Planet Kubasa the last three years, which felt like his whole life by now. But people like her? No.

He wasn't able to read her body language all too well. No sounds from her vocals indicated anything in particular.

And her smell.

It was familiar...and soothing.

He felt as if attacking this woman would be the wrong thing to do. Instead, he ought to get close and get to know her.

But his survival instincts would conflict with the natural feelings a child would have for their mother. Any pure-blooded Saiyan would find it easy to disconnect themselves from their own, but Kohlbi was a halfling. And thanks to his keen sense of smell, he felt as if this woman was someone of great importance. He had smelled her only once before when he had been taken out of the woman, but that fragrance stuck with him ever since. Certain things on the planet would reminded him of the nostalgic fragrance.

Once Cepa was just a few yards away from him, she remained with her hands by her face.

Mother and son locked eyes and kept eye-contact with one another.

As Cepa looked down onto her son, a wide smile came across her face. She didn't have any close feelings that bonded them together, but the woman couldn't help but feel a sense of pride that her son wasn't just any old run of the mill low-class weakling. He was stronger than Prince Vegeta even! If she were to show him off with the fact that Kohlbi was produced by her, then Cepa would ultimately be promoted as Elite! Her opportunity to have a proud legacy of her own was just beginning!

As for Kohlbi, the boy involuntarily dropped his guard. His mother's round, yet sharp eyes were a pair that he felt that he had been looked by before. Her scent was familiar. The kid couldn't help but feel close.

Hell, this was the first time in his life where he ever felt comfortable around someone. She didn't appear hostile at all. Her smile was heartwarming and her having wide arms before him felt welcoming.

The boy instinctively ran toward Cepa and hugged her tightly around the leg.

Cepa kept the boy's head close to her leg and patted him on the head. She never thought she'd see a day where she got so intimate with someone voluntarily.

But now since she had him where she needed him, Cepa could carry on with her business.

"I'll teach you a thing or two about surviving for real." She chuckled menacingly.


	4. The Non-negotiable Mission

**A Halfling's Kismet**

* * *

In a universe where power meant everything, King Vegeta the first made sure he ran his citizens on Planet Vegeta with an iron fist. All of his people had to answer to either he or any authorities that remained close to him. Whenever things were working well, King Vegeta had no worries, for he had to answer to King Cold.

As for Cold, the single most influential person throughout all the cosmos, ruled entire galaxies without much worry. It took years and a lot of blood-shed for him to establish his empire, but once things got to clicking, a beat was never missed. King Vegeta and any other leader of any other race had to answer to him.

King Cold answered to no one.

Well, most of the time.

Just because he ruled the Universe didn't mean he was by far the most powerful. Sure, he held the most influence, but that was it. Even his abnormal strength wouldn't do as much as tickle the person he currently stood before.

While aboard his ship that travelled throughout space on autopilot, Cold was accompanied by only two people.

Beerus the Hakaishin.

And Whis, Beerus' attendant.

All things considered, King Cold technically was the strongest in all of the Universe, as far as being a mortal.

Beerus and Whis weren't mortals. They were divine entities.

Beerus raised his paws and placed it over his stretched mouth, letting out a big yawn. He really didn't want to be in the presence of a senseless narcisistic genocidal emperor, but what other choice did he have? It wasn't like he could just sleep through Whis' horrible singing; it was so horrible that it'd make any sane mortal consider suicide on the spot.

"It has been years since I have had the honor to be in your presence, Lord Beerus," Cold said. If he had been speaking to any other person, Cold would be seated in his chair at the current moment, though he stood up on his two feet as a way to give respect to his unexpected guests. For the life of him, he wondered why Beerus was here. He knew that either Beerus or his attendant would inform him on their reasons for being there shortly. Still, he couldn't help but wonder...

Did they plan on bringing his organization to a stop? Did Beerus also aim on erasing him or just in hopes of carrying a conversation? While he was worried, Cold made sure to keep his composure. He then looked over to Beerus' attendant. "And mister Whis."

Whis nodded to him as his personal form of salutation.

"Yeah, yeah," Beerus waved his hand, "enough with the formalities, huh? Whis, tell him what ya done told me already."

"Right…" Whis held his hand out to the side. From thin air appeared a staff with a black, round sphere hovering above the very top and a ring which was circled around said sphere. He grabbed the staff, and tapped the bottom of it against the floor lightly. The sphere began to glow a dazzling, green bright color before a holographic image popped up before their very eyes. The whole room had been illuminated, erasing all bland colors that surrounded the small proximity mere moments ago.

Beerus, Whis, and Cold all looked at holograph. There shown were a multitude of stars and planets, most being uninhabited. A particular world had been zoomed in, displaying a very vivid look of the planet as if they were right by it themselves.

It was a big, round, light blue planet.

Cold, with his arms crossed, looked over to his guests. "And what am I looking at?" He could see the specific coordinates of the world, though he failed to understand the meaning behind it. "Do you want me to take care of the planet?"

"If I wanted the planet to be taken care of, I would have done it myself," Beerus quickly answered him. "I want you to do what you do best; take care of the people on the planet."

Cold knew for a fact that Beerus wouldn't be asking him of this for no particular reason. If it was something Beerus demanded to be done, he could only imagine the motive behind it. "And what is the matter here?"

"The people of this world are a highly advanced civilization, residing many, many light years away from here, in an uncharted galaxy even."

"Uncharted galaxy?" Cold chuckled. "With all due respect, there happens to be no uncharted galaxy in the Universe that I don't happen to know about."

"Do the coordinates appear familiar to you?" Beerus asked him.

Whis proceeded to zoom back out so that Cold could go over the coordinates of the planet again. The intergalactic emperor looked carefully over each letter and number that made up of the official coordinates. They weren't of any land he happened to be familiar with at all and he had studied and been to various throughout his lifetime.

"No…" Cold admitted.

"I thought so." Beerus tore off a piece of his nail and spat it out on the floor. "Little do you know, but the Universe has infinite development; ever since it was created, it continues to grow and expand. With every semi-second of every single day, week, month, year, decade, and further on beyond, the Universe doesn't stop growing."

"And as you'd expect, there would be more life that continues to be created." Whis then mumbled under his breath. "But the Kai hasn't really been doing much a good job in that category…"

Cold nodded. "Now it all makes sense." He unfolded his arms and spread them out slightly. "If you don't mind my inquiry, what is the reason that these people need to be taken care of?"

"The persons of this planet are an insanely sophisticated civilization. They have exceeded in basic teachings and moved onto intergalactic travel. With virtually having accomplished anything and everything that a planet full of naturally keen people could think of, there happened to still be one thing that was hard for them to decode."

Very interested, Cold leaned in a bit. "And what might that be?"

"Genetic engineering," Beerus answered.

"Oh, you beat me to the punch," Whis complained. "But yes, Beerus is correct. This is something that we're sure other worlds have dabbled in on occasions, though none have come to perfect this...until recently."

"How recently?" King Cold inquired.

"About seven generations, give or take," Whis said. "It didn't catch our attention until one of our divine peers notified us in a meeting we hold every 1,000 years."

"I didn't realize how dangerous this was until Whis explained it to me," Beerus added. "They've perfected cloning and anything else that comes with fixing one's genetic makeup. As of now, they're simply using this to expand their own world technologically, but who's to say that they won't try to take your place once they realize that they can have absolute control over the entire Universe?"

With all of this being thrown right into his face, Cold had to sit down and think about this for a moment. While rubbing his chin and wagging his long, giant tail, his head began to involuntarily go up and down. Subsequent to dissecting every word from Beerus and Whis, he began to see the dangerous as well-mostly the risks involved with his empire. He wouldn't be able to stand it.

He also couldn't help but think on how he was just hearing of these types of persons now? If they were as technologically advanced as they were being described, then surely enough he would have been able to come across them at least once in his lifetime; if not him, then some of his men for sure.

"You can take care of this easily, so why bother coming to me?" Cold asked respectfully.

"I only got half a century of sleep," Beerus answered. "Obviously far more left to be desired and I want to get as much as possible before I head over to that restaurant based planet that Supreme Kai promised he'd make for me in the next 5 years. I want them to be ready and thriving by the time I come back to reality."

"More like you're too lazy," Whis corrected.

Beerus rolled his eyes and smacked his lips. Whis always had something smart to say. "Yeah, whatever." He placed his hands on Whis' shoulders. "Let's get out of here already. I'm tired."

"Of course." Whis tapped the floor with the pointy end of his staff.

Just as a bright glow began to encircle Beerus and Whis, the former of the two didn't shy in screaming out his last words. "Fail me and you'll be erased!"

Just after they both left, soldiers came running through the doors of the ship with their blasters in hand. "Who was that?" They had orders of leaving Cold alone so that he wouldn't be bothered but they weren't told that he was expecting company. Feeling something was wrong, they popped up to check in on their lord.

"I thought I told you that I didn't want any more company."

The men, all beginning to sweat buckshots, placed their guns back in their holsters. "R-Right. We just heard a yell and assumed something was wrong is all."

"As long as you're okay, sire!"

The diabolical maniac sneered in response.

Just before Cold completely turned around, the trio had all simultaneously plopped down to the floor. Three separate heads could be seen detached and rolling through the reflection of the window that the galactic emperor looked through as he began to reassemble his thoughts.

"I am now."

* * *

Cold, like Beerus, could have managed to get the job done himself; that was the positive. However, also much like Beerus, Cold was far too lazy to do so as well. Beerus had his own reasons and Cold has his own for not getting off his tail and carrying out what he was being demanded to. Seeing that he wasn't going to bring himself to go ahead and make it to uncharted territory, Cold figured that he could have one of his men to get the job done themselves.

But it couldn't be just any old regular common soldier.

"So, what do you say, Vegeta?"

Cold had explained it all just as Whis and Beerus had explained it to him, though in his very own words.

King Vegeta sat on the throne, pondering every single piece of detail that had been shared with him. The coordinates weren't familiar to him at all but he wondered one thing: "Just how promising will the compensation be once the assignment is carried out?"

"Very big. For a trip like this, I imagine it'll be your highest paid assignment."

Liking the sound of that, King Vegeta stood up from his throne, just a few yards away from his superior. He extended his hand out. "Very well."

Cold wiggled his tail up and used it to shake hands with the Saiyan instead.

The Saiyan King took this as an insult, As courteous as he was being to Cold, the tyrant had such a big ego that he couldn't even bring himself to touching hands with the very man that worked for him. As much as he wanted to tell the man off, King Vegeta knew better, so he didn't comment on it. Instead, he figured he could also get something else out of it. "I'll take care of the major threats and keep some for myself and my people here."

"I beg your pardon?"

"We will be needing more scientists. You say these people are abnormally intelligent, no? We need more people intelligent people working for us, in order to not only expand our civilization, but others that work with your force as well, ultimately expanding your empire. Wouldn't you agree?" His lips curled into a smirk. "A favor for a favor."

"As you wish." Cold removed his tail and turned around. "Take as long as you need, but I wouldn't advise too long! You're on a deadline of fifty years!"

_Fifty years?_

Why would it take him so long to handle such a mission in the first place? Hell, why wouldn't they have this assignment completed in the span of half a century? If he couldn't get it done in one year, Vegeta would kill those responsible.

Just thinking about it too much started to give him a headache. Instead, now it was time to get this done as soon as possible.

* * *

"**FIVE YEARS!?"**

King Vegeta rose from his throne and jacked the electronic pad that one of his scientists held in hand and looked at it. The man who had it twiddled with his thumbs, nervous as to if his king would have an outburst and ultimately take his anger out on him. He often had a knack for doing this when angered to great lengths.

It wasn't very hard to get on his bad side, either.

"S-Sir, those coordinates are something we just have never travelled to before. It'd take far too long just getting there. Despite what worth the planet may have, I don't see the point in wasting time like this, sire. We don't know what the people there are capable of. Heading into the unknown can be a very dangerous task."

Vegeta slammed the pad on the ground, growling. "You act as if our ancestors have never jumped from planet to planet, knowing very little of what was next ahead of them. It's in our blood. This is no different."

"Yes, but those were the entire Saiyans as a race. There is a fine line between hundreds of people banding together to take over a planet and a little team of five doing it."

He was right and Vegeta knew it. The Saiyan king didn't even know what soldier would take the task of heading over to a world which would take them half a century to attend. Unless one was rewarded courteously, he didn't see many agreeing to accepting the job.

"Your majesty! Your majesty!"

A Saiyan subordinate came barging into the throne room with a great sense of urgency. Vegeta was aware that if his trusted outside guards were willing to let a person storm in as he did, then it must have been of great importance. He handed the pad back to the man he jacked from earlier and dismissed him with a simple wave off.

The young man that entered the throne room was the assigned foreman of those who came in and left off. He had a little book in hand as he drew closer to the steps right before the king's throne.

"What is with the haste?" Vegeta inquired.

"Sire, we got reports of Planet Kabusa being sold. It wasn't worth much but the planet's been conquered."

This got some ears twitching throughout the room. Very unlikely that any Saiyan would even manage to conquer such a world, unless it were one of the upper-ranking subordinates or one of the royals themselves. Regardless, Vegeta never saw the point in any of his citizens carrying out the task of Star 107.

Unless…

**_"Impossible…"_**

King Vegeta swiftly removed himself from his throne yet again, this time walking down the steps. All of his royal guards eyed him with genuine curiosity. Very seldom did he ever leave his seat unless it was of a great deal to him personally. The foreman of those who came and went had doubled over, tightly clutching his gut subsequent to receiving a punch there. Of course the messenger would get some form of punishment for just reporting the truth. Maybe he'd be better off not even telling the King anyhow.

Vegeta blasted the doors to his throne room open and continued to walk out. "I want that fixed by the time I get back!"

As he walked, his thoughts were things he just couldn't fight off. He had enough on his plate pondering over this planet he had never heard about a single day in his life, but the problem he aimed to take care of just recently had come back? Of all times!?

_Just what in the hell happened!? That boy was sent to STAR 107; a literal death trap! A tailless Saiyan capable of conquering that planet? Just what in the hell are the odds...even my son couldn't do that at this point. _King Vegeta's narrow eyes had tightened. Frustration began to make his hot, Saiyan blood boil, though he did his best to keep composure.

"Very well, then...I have something to rectify the problem..."

* * *

Coming home meant catching a little break. Whether that meant good rest on a bed, some fine dining, or just hanging about, every Saiyan felt they needed a break every once in a while. Despite conflict and battle being the number one sought object by most, even excessive battle had began to test one's tolerance from time to time.

Being back on Planet Vegeta meant the same old thing. Very rare did things change; seldom did there happen to be any new faces or new places. Either you saw those you knew in the past or someone else you may have seen around happened to take their place.

But today was a different day.

For the first time in a long time, many had laid eyes upon a tailless Saiyan.

Cepa was amongst the crowd in the middle of a very small area, watching as her son got to experiment with all the luxuries that he never had back on Planet Kubasa. Just when people were pushing carts with bags of meat and giant pitchers of water, the aroma had made way into the boy's nose and his primal instincts had taken over instantaneously. Unable to control himself, the boy grabbed all the food and began eating. Just as he was met with some objection by elder Saiyans, they had all been knocked down on their asses and forced to watch as a six-year old child ate all their goods.

"Just who's tailless bastard is this?" a young lady in the crowd asked.

Many people began to ask the same thing as well. It was on everyone's mind. The question was in the back of their minds and many started to toss out theories. Cepa, despite hearing the insults, just remained with her arms crossed and eyes closed, doing her best to stifle laughter. Nobody in the area had scopes so none realized just how powerful her little boy was. Without a doubt, she was sure that Kohlbi had more power than every other Saiyan in the proximity.

"Fools," Cepa murmured under her breath. "All of you bums are fools!"

Her sudden shout had brought everyone to an instant hush. Now with all eyes on her, apart from her son's, the woman's subtle grin had turned into a smug and obvious one.

"What the hell are you on about?"

"Forget the fact that the boy is without a tail for a moment. Did it ever occur to any of you just how strong might he be? Oh wait, that's right, none of you knew what planet he came from." She then started to laugh as she walked right in the middle of the circular crowd. She raised her hands and began to show hand signs. The first sign was her index finger, then she turned her hand into the shape of a zero prior to displaying seven total. "One, 0, Seven; star 107-A.K.A. Planet Kubasa. How many of you have heard of that planet?"

A few people looked at their peers and continued to mumble. Most had no idea of what the planet was but for the few that did, were well aware of the dangers that came with it.

"It's one of the most dangerous, inhospitable worlds that you can ever set foot upon!" Cepa then pointed her fingers over to her edacious child, who still hadn't stopped pigging out. "That child right there, **MY SON**, single handedly survived on that world for three years! He, without a tail, survived in a world where the smallest of creatures hold a power-level of half a thousand! Think about that for a moment, eh?"

Eyes grew wide and even more questions started to arise. A mere child survive a planet such as that? Many began to question why he'd be sent off there in the first place, but most started to compare; could it be that this child was concurrent with Prince Vegeta in terms of power? They wondered how their King would take to that.

"Only feebleminded cretins would have to truly take a moment out of their time to give it some thought!" King Vegeta boomed.

The very moment that eyes came upon their King, everyone got down on their knees and lowered their head in his presence. Vegeta walked through the crowd with his arms behind his back and his chest pushed out. He didn't take rather kindly to Cepa not bowing while in his presence, though he disregarded her act of impertinence.

"I, on the other hand, needed not take a single second out my time to truly realize just how much latent potential your child must hold to be able to survive on such a world on his own for the span of three years! It shows that he is a survivor; one who adapts quickly and applies his own learnings to his everyday survival. He couldn't have survived solely based on his strength." He then pointed at the temple of his head. "but he must have had used some intellect as well."

"No shit," Cepa shot at him.

Some gasps were heard from around in the crowd. Just what balls did this lady have to talk to their very own king like this?

"I commend your son, truly. For that reason...I have a very, VERY...special mission for you..."

Cepa's eyes narrowed. She knew that he had something up his sleeve but the woman was unable to come to the exact conclusion. King Vegeta, after all, was a conniving bastard. And with conniving bastards, one must expect the unexpected.

"You and your son," King Vegeta added. "And must I tell you now; it's not negotiable."


	5. The Myth

**A Halfling's Kismet**

* * *

This planet was given no name in particular. All King Vegeta had his subordinates do was place in the coordinates of the world they had to attend to and that was it. During the whole trip, Cepa had an unwavering scowl plastered on her face. She and her son both travelled in a medium sized circular floater ship that could accompany up to half a dozen people. There were two seats in the very front of the ship where the ship could be controlled manually and back rooms where others could either sleep or stay in a middle room and relax, and eat.

Cepa's vibes were strong - so strong that even Kohlbi could feel the anger emanating from her. If the boy was able to speak the same language that his mother spoke, then he would have said something in the common tongue by now, but he was all too familiar with his own bestial form of communication. The kid wanted to get close, but everytime he did, he'd get daggering glares from the woman, which kept him back.

Cepa, on the other hand, was still livid.

Thinking about how King Vegeta pretty much ordered her in front of all those people was an embarrassment. She didn't even know the planet that Vegeta spoke of, but the way he talked appeared to be in an amicable manner from how others viewed it, but Cepa knew better. By King Vegeta speaking nicely and asking for a kind favor in the manner he did was to make the other Saiyans think that Cepa was being rendered a very special request; one in which she'd be disgraced for if she had denied. If she were to tell him outright now, then she'd be better off leaving Planet Vegeta to not face the constant criticism from her fellow man.

King Vegeta was no fool, either.

For the first few months, Cepa would just eat and remain in an angry state, which held her back from thinking clearly. Now that she had been in the ship for some time, which helped her cool off a bit, the woman started using her head more.

The fact that it took five years to come to such a distant land must have surely meant that this world was a very advanced civilization. As history showed, the lands that were far, far away were more than likely properly developed in some form or another since they haven't been within the range of Cold's scouts. With great planets sold meant great profits.

Cepa, as her eyes were fixated on the many planets that she passed by the second, came to a quick conclusion. For the first time since she's been on the ship, a smug grin formed on her face. _Yes, this definitely isn't over yet. _

The automatic doors behind her opened. Cepa didn't even have to look in order to realize who it was that had entered. The child had only been coming inside for two things.

Cepa grabbed an insulation bottle which contained water and a few candy bars. She held it on the right side of her where Kohlbi would be able to grab it. "Hungry, huh?"

The half-breed nodded his head. If there were words he had learned to understand, it was food, hunger, thirst, and sleep, and potty. Without hesitation, he grabbed the candy and the bottle of water before he turned around to leave the room.

"Hey, kid," Cepa called out, getting the boy's attention. Once he turned around, his eyes locked with his mother's. "After this, it's just going to be me and you from now on." Seeing the blank look on his face, Cepa chuckled before pointing at her chest and then pointing the same finger at her son. "You and me."

Kohlbi pointed at her. "You." Then at himself. "Me."

Cepa nodded. "Ahuh."

She then turned around. Cepa didn't see the smile she had brought to her son's face, nor did she care, for the plans she had in mind were enough to bring happiness to her. After this mission, she'd surely have enough profits to ditch Planet Vegeta and start her own personal mercenary business. Being a warrior Saiyan, she still loved to fight, but Cepa would be damned if she continued to advocate a short-term minded King such as Vegeta.

Didn't he realize the exponential value that someone with potential such as Kohlbi would bring? With his strength, shouldn't it drive King Vegeta to push his son even harder to bring out the very limits of his innate potential? With Kohlbi on the frontlines, the Saiyan army would be all the more dangerous. Kohlbi's children and the children of Kohlbi's children would be top-ranking. They could even procreate with the royal-blood to produce the ultimate Saiyan; a Super Saiyan.

How could a King lead the Saiyans to an entirely new and developed civilization, yet they drop down to indentured servants who don't have the desire to see the bigger picture.

_Fool._

Sleep was needed in order for most to utilize as much brain power as possible; such was what kept people going in order to reach the most potential in whatever goal they strived to accomplish. For that reason, whatever activities that were being done had to be postponed for a while for resumption begun.

That wasn't the case on the uncharted lands of Planet Shideni. Had it been not for the incessant rain and lightning storms that came along with it, the world would be far too dark to traverse through. Like any planet with expected life, the world had a great abundance of water-so much water that the lands that they did have required force fields to block the rain and keep areas safe from damage due to the heavy winds and constant lightning.

While one of the most advanced planets, none were able to detect them, and for great reason.

Just out in the atmosphere of the planet, sixteen different satellites hovered around the dark blue planet; four different satellites in four different sections, constantly watching over anything that passed through and also paying attention to the orbit of the planet.

Those who worked outside as overseers worked inside the satellites. In a room that'd be dark if not for the near overbearing neon lights, there were blue-haired women that could be seen working around the clock. Despite the fact that all of their facial features were exact replicas, as well as their clothing, they had specific numbers which was how they distinguished themselves.

There were those who collected data and they rendered said data to those who reported such. Those that got the reports would make sure everything is in check prior to contacting the planetary managers of their world.

One of the supervisors of the satellites walked behind one of the cloned individuals, who swiped through stacks of information through a holographic image. "Are the guarders connected to the other satellites around the orb's quadrant?"

The lady nodded her head. "Set the fields up as soon as we got here, sir, just less than a tenth of an hour ago."

"Good." The supervisor backed off and began to turn around and head out a door of the satellite. He needed not keep watch over his subordinates 24/7 for the simple fact that these clones were all engineered to have top notch neural function, which heavily suppressed the single undesired quality; incompetence.

Just mere moments before he could exit the room, a fast paced, low-frequency beeping sound caught his attention. Every entity in the room all looked over to the main control panel, where they were getting an encroachment alert.

The supervisor was the very first person to make way over to the holographic image. A red dot fazed in and out with each passing second, as it continued to near their home-planet. "I want you to lock onto the moving object and notify those down below of what's headed for us. Make sure that our guarders are prepared to make any moves if need be."

"On it."

The only times in which the inhabitants of Planet Shideni were alerted of past encroachments had to do with meteors closing in, all of which they prepared for by using their force shields to block out. Destroying a large meteor just meant more pieces coming in. They learned that lesson the hard way.

Once the object was locked onto, the supervisor's eyes widened in that of shock and confusion. The object appeared like no form of transportation device similar to theirs but by no doubt did it happen to be something to aid in intergalactic travel. He, nor anyone else have never ever seen a foreigner's ship. Hell, they never even had visitors.

"Notify the planetary managers that they ought to double the average number of guarders that we typically have for rock showers. I won't expect our first visitors to be all that kind."

"You don't wish to block them from trespassing the force shield, sir?"

"No…" the supervisor narrowed his eyes. "Maybe they can prove of some use to us...with or without their consent."

Five long years they had waited for this.

Kohlbi had barely grown but his muscles thinned out for being out in space for so long. His mother, Cepa, was skinnier as well, and even had some grey strands growing around her hair. With the ship in cruise control, she stood on her two feet, fists clenched and body shaking.

She had no signs of fear, nor that of anger. Instead, she was anxious-very anxious. It had been five long years since she had done as much as thrown a single fist; five long years since she had the smell of death creep into her thin nostrils; and five long years since she felt a good jab to the face that got her blood pumping. She could barely contain her eagerness.

Her eleven year old son was just right beside her. Like his mother, he was anxious as well, though for the opposite reasons. He had been told precisely why they were headed to this world but the boy had no fighting experience. She showed him how to use and manipulate ki but as far as combat moves, she didn't even bother. From Cepa's own mouth, she stated that it's best for a Saiyan to rely on instinct in battle, for such was the apparent reason that they managed to survive so long.

From the very moment that they had entered the atmosphere of the planet and got to experience the environment for themselves, both had been immediately met with some form of turbulence. Kohlbi slid over to the side of the room while his mother held onto the chair.

The sounds droplets relentlessly banging on the steel portion of their ship couldn't be ignored. Cepa just scoffed. "Gotta expect the unexpected here, don't we? For all we know, Vegeta could have us here in a death trap. It makes sense that the planet would have bad conditions all around." She then looked over to the side. "You alright, kid?"

Kohlbi got up, rubbing his head, with a sneer. If there was one thing the kid didn't like, it was getting hit. The boy just nodded his head. "Ahuh." After getting back up on his feet, the first thing he noticed was Cepa's tail swaying side to side. Curious, he got up to see what had gotten her attention.

Just out the glass of their ship, Cepa and Kohlbi spotted various hovering objects surround them. A quick grin came on her face. "So they were expecting us? Even better-saves us the introduction!" With haste, she ran over to the key panel of the pilot area and pressed a button. Before she left, she made sure to keep the ship in neutral.

She immediately hopped out an opening that appeared above, making herself known to the people surrounding her. There were over 20 rectangular floating cars with five people in each. All had on overall grey body armor, as well as a helmet that consisted of a visor. All 100 people had one of their arms stretched out and hands wide open.

The visors they had on scanned the species of the people they were looking at. While they were no doubt sentient beings with high motor functions, their people were unknown to them, despite having scoped out a great bit of the universe through intergalactic travel.

Cepa was on top of her ship, looking at all of the people around her.

"Speak your business here," one of the guarders demanded.

Cepa began to reach into her armored chest-plate in hopes of getting her scope out to read the power-levels of the individuals here. Just as her hand neared her chest, a line of sizzling ki nearly grazed her face. The warning attack was so close that she could feel an instant rise in temperature on her cheek.

_These people are on high alert. _Cepa had no knowledge about these people at all; she knew nothing of their climate, the culture of their people, nor the environment. What was most concerning had been the power-levels of these individuals.

Cepa then proceeded to raise both of her hands. "Okay."

But who cares?

With a simple flick of the risk, ten of the rectangular cars had been blown up to bits. The pieces that remained as well as the scorching bodies had all fallen down below into the oceanic body of water that resided below. Upon seeing their peers attacked, the rest of the guarders began to fire off a myriad of ki attacks simultaneously.

Kohlbi was quick to hop out of the ship and rocket off into the sky while in the midst of the storm. He managed to get out of dodge as the multitude of attacks zoomed on by. Cepa was taking them all on at once.

With his eyes on his mother, Kohlbi hadn't come to notice those that began to close in on him. The boy was struck from behind in the back and forced forward, where a man came at him with a fist to the face.

Before he rammed into the person who blasted him mere moments ago, Kohlbi turned around to come face to face with the man behind him. The kid, while flying towards him, charged a ball of ki in his hang and angrily launched it directly at him.

The man was struck at point blank range. Subsequent to crashing into the rippling body of water below, the child turned around to blast away the person who had also punched him.

Kohlbi didn't plan on making the first move against anybody but the boy knew that it was either him or them. He learned this back on Planet Kubasa.

He saw that the majority of the soldiers were facing off against Cepa since she was the primary threat to begin with. At first, Cepa was doing well all on her own, though the woman was slowly being overwhelmed as more reinforcements were being ordered in by the second.

She dispatched of a few more dozen vehicles, but she winced in pain at the myriad of attacks that simultaneously struck against her back. She turned around in attempt to dispose of the aggravation from behind but got struck yet again. She hissed angrily and fired off at two more cars.

"All attack at once!"

The order didn't need to be said twice. The soldiers who had their focus on the kid turned around and began charging their attacks all at once. Cepa began to generate ki in the palms of both her hands. The heat of battle made her forget all about Kohlbi, who was just watching from afar. The boy never seen anything to this degree; all of it was nothing short of amazing to him.

Cepa launched her attack forth. It connected with a couple but the ones that hit her from the back and sides elicited shrieks and yells of agony. The overbearing pain influenced her performance, which caused her to lose the upper hand on those she struggled to dominate in the beam clash. When she was at her weakest point, all of them had overtaken her and sent Cepa crashing down into the water below.

Kohlbi's eyes grew wide and shaky at the sight. Cepa, with her back floating on top the water, let out slow, deep breaths. Her vision was blurry and if not for the water, the burning sensations she felt all over would have caused her to lose consciousness.

Despite the fact that it was very hard to make things out from below, Cepa saw a bright flash of light illuminate the entire area. One by one, the floating rectangular vehicles came crashing down. The female Saiyan sucked in a great bit of oxygen prior to submerging herself down below into the cool liquids.

From underneath, she continued to see bodies and vehicles crash down. It didn't take any extended effort for her to realize that this was her child's doing. With every half second that passed, ten bodies fell down in the body of water. In less than ten seconds, there was no more noise.

Thinking it all to be clear, Cepa removed herself from the body of water and ascended to the sky. The closer she got to Kohlbi, the more she saw he was in a livid state. The kid had veins going down from the temple of his head to the bottom of his eye. His body was shaking and his breaths were so hot that the heat could be seen coming out, despite the heavy rain.

"Kohlbi…" Cepa called out. She took precaution, though she knew for a fact that he wouldn't attack her. Once she was within reach, Cepa placed her hands on the boy's shoulder. "Son…"

Kohlbi's head jerked up to Cepa, who looked on with a straight face. Despite the near lack of emotion that she displayed, Kohlbi felt as if she grew concerned over his own well-being. Confused, the boy wondered what the hell happened. He looked around, seeing bodies and pieces of metal floating away in the water below.

"Hey," Cepa gained his attention. She then pointed over to the other areas of the planet, all of which were being protected by force shields. "We have a planet to conquer."

The force shields were capable of protecting homes from meteors and other natural causes, but not against the powers of two Saiyan warriors. With no more cloned guarders to protect the world, everyone and everything else was rendered defenseless. Because of this, entrance inside the many bases of the planet was accessible by the intruders. Though there wasn't much infrastructural damage done,

A blue haired lady with a bowl cut dressed in a grey lab coat with glass visors on, found herself vomiting up all of her insides. She managed to be one of the very few survivors of this tragedy. She had no clue where the attackers went to, but she was more than relieved to have survived.

Still, it didn't make her feel any better.

The corridors she remained in had a strong stench and many corpses along the way. The grey halls were tainted by the color of blood. For such slaughter to be done, she was rather surprised to find no damage done to the area.

Sounds of heavy footsteps from afar had caught her breath. Frozen like a deer in headlights, the lady remained with her mouth agape. The boots of the walking person were a red color, as were the pants and cape that came along with it. The dangling of metallic accessories rang throughout the hall as well. This man wore the same armor as the invaders though due to her ignorance of the appearances of these intruders, she didn't realize what people this man belonged to.

One thing about him though was that his white gloves had a dark red color to them and his face the same as well. Some scratches were took place over his body here and there, though for the most part, he seemed to be fine.

Still, she was rather taken aback. "W-Who are you?"

The bearded man grinned. "Your new leader: Vegeta."

She furrowed a brow and looked left and right. Though initially confused, she quickly came to realize that this man more than likely had something to do with the intruders that were here. For them to just be attacked and have their most important people killed, as well as the planetary managers, then it was all his doing.

"Y-You're taking over?"

Vegeta nodded his head. "Yes, now where may I find the other two?"

As if the Universe were listening in on his thoughts, Vegeta's question had been answered not even a second later.

"We're right here, your highness."

Cepa and Kohlbi had their armor in tatters and their bodies scratched and soaked in blood. While Cepa looked like any other genocidal soldier, Kohlbi's narrow eyes made him look like a maniac. The scars that he endured on Planet Kubasa really helped place him in a very menacing category.

Seeing the two battle torn soldiers put a smile on Vegeta's face. The woman behind him backed up slowly in hopes of not being attacked.

Cepa quickly took notice of this and fired a small beam directed for her. Vegeta was swift and grabbed his cape to cover himself as he clutched onto the blue haired female in attempt to protect her.

Kohlbi didn't think anything of it but Cepa was rather taken aback by Vegeta's heroics. "What are you doing!?"

Vegeta let the female drop on the back of her head before turning around to face the other two. "There's no telling how many left are alive. I'm going to need as many remaining as possible if I hope to use their resources for our own good."

"How are you even here?" Cepa further questioned. "It took us five years just to make it to this dump of a planet. I couldn't imagine you'd actually bring yourself to investing so much time in travelling here."

King Vegeta chuckled. "Not even. With a new barrier broken in the field of technology thanks to King Cold's men, it takes less time to get to our wanted destinations. Figuring that I could make it here in a matter of months now, I figured why not pay a little visit?"

"So you came to help?"

King Vegeta cocked an eyebrow. "From the looks of it, you've done most of the work already."

A pause then seized the area.

The cloned woman behind didn't know what to do. Running wasn't an option or she'd be killed, yet for some reason, she was being protected by this stranger. Perhaps staying was in her best interest.

Cepa sneered. Given how Vegeta just avoided her question, she had a feeling that he had ulterior motives. Him saving that woman when he didn't need to was more than enough proof.

Kohlbi just remained on his two feet and kept watch. This was his first time greeting the king of his superior half. He could feel the tension coming from his mother and since Vegeta's presence made her uneasy, it also made him uneasy.

"Thank you."

After stating his half-assed gratitude, King Vegeta extended the palm of his hand out. Before Cepa could do as much as make a move, the woman received a sizzling wave of ki right through the chest, one with so much force that it sent her off her feet and sliding away. The blood that seeped from the hole could be seen vividly tainting the grey steel floors beneath them.

"You're next, brat."

Vegeta was known for not wasting time with his enemies and intended on ending the boy quickly.

Seeing Cepa cough up blood from her mouth had pulled a trigger.

The kid, as he grinded his teeth and dug his very sharp nails into the palm of his hand, began to boil with rage. The woman behind Vegeta, while on the floor, could feel the very floor shaking before them.

"W-What...What's going on!?"

Once the intensity of the shaking grew, Vegeta began to grow curious as well. Electric zaps would flicker around the boy's body. His pupils would roll to the back of his head, only remaining visible for a split second.

Kohlbi's hair rose as his anger continued to do so.

"What's going on!?" the woman yelled.

King Vegeta couldn't believe what was going on before his very eyes. Though he never witnessed such anger coming from someone, though he heard stories.

_A Saiyan, so blinded by rage that he could no longer see sense. _

Kohlbi was already at this point.

_His power skyrockets to levels you could never deem possible. _

Vegeta took out a scope from his chest-plate and used it to scan the boy's power. Much to his amazement, the device had started at the numbers of sixty-thousand. Once it neared one hundred thousand, the scope cracked.

_It aims to kill with every strike. _

_Beware of the myth._

_The Legendary._

King Vegeta only passed that off as a myth from the tongue of his elders as a young boy. But still, why would such words come to his mind at now of all times?

"RAHHHHHHH!" Kohlbi exploded.

King Vegeta grabbed the woman behind him and blasted a hole through the wall in an attempt to escape. The pressure of Kohlbi's power continued to grow and grow-so much that the infrastructure slowly started to cave in. Walls cracked and pieces above began to fall.

Vegeta didn't bother looking back while ascending higher and higher. The female he had in his arms was petrified though she didn't dare open her mouth for saying the wrong thing could possibly be a trip down in the body of water below.

_T-The Legendary Super Saiyan...there's no way! It couldn't be! C-Could he really be?_

Vegeta turned back around and looked down. The black in his eyes lit up as the explosion of the facility below took the form of fireworks. The woman gasped in astonishment as Vegeta just watched on.

A chill went up his spine, causing his tail to go stiff as he remained frozen, like a deer stuck in headlights.

All he did was see a bright golden glow before it suddenly went out.

Nothing remained. And as the land began to collapse be submerged into the body of water, a grin slowly came across his face.

"Nothing...just as I thought."

They say the Saiyans are a race of warriors.

Not only that, but their pride is incomparable.

Despite having the prowess that many covet.

Despite having the pride that many find foolish.

Their King, the strongest and most prideful of them all…

Couldn't see just how much a halfling could elevate their race.

If not for Vegeta's wounded pride…

Who's to say where the Saiyans would be right now.

But one thing's for sure:

It just couldn't be any other way.


End file.
